An Alternate Slice of Reality

The Lake

Her Perspective II

In that shadow, in that fog, there was a sound that slipped into the water. I almost didn’t hear it.
Almost.
But there was an uneasiness gathering in the water. A slow and deliberate churning. An uneasiness squeezing my heart.

What do you do? When you don’t know what to do?
When you can’t breathe because there’s some new fear squeezing the water?
This little lake of empty things, growing tighter and tighter around you. Like a glass noose, cutting and squeezing.
And you’ve been bleeding out into the water until you’ve nothing left to bleed.
And that blood has brought the shark.
And all that blood is churning in the water and all you want is to be free of it all,
but it’s far, far too late for that.

Because you were alone in this water. And now you are not.
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I heard a sound of something else in the water.

I heard a sound. Some women would look back to see what it was. Some women would turn and see.
All I have ever seen when I look back is regret, or a blank canvas that I am afraid to think about.
So, I stopped looking back a long time ago.

That's a lie. said the lake.
You only ever look back. Because, well, you're just that kind of girl.
The kind who carries the weight of regret around, but never considers what might be the cause.
The kind who enjoys drowning. Because it takes away your responsibility.
The kind who never thinks because thinking leads to conclusions.
The kind who lies in a heartbeat and between the heartbeats too.
I lie too. I'm just better at it than you.

I could hear everything. And that brought a very cold realization.

I could hear it breathing.


I am going to die.

No. I'm sure you will survive.
I'm sure you will eat him alive.
Like the good little shark that you are.

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